Posts Tagged ‘National Travel and Tourism Week’

Phil Lovas is Deputy Assistant Secretary for Travel and Tourism, Industry & Analysis for the International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce

May is World Trade Month, a time when we celebrate the importance of international trade to the economy and creating jobs. I find it fitting that we also celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week in May, as International visitor spending in the United States represents 32 percent of U.S. services exports and 11 percent of all U.S. exports, goods and services combined. In 2017, the United States welcomed nearly 77 million international visitors who spent more than $251 billion exploring the diverse cities, states, and regions of our nation. Travel and tourism means big business for the United States, including manufacturers. While travel and tourism is a significant part of the U.S. services sector, the International Trade Administration’s National Travel and Tourism Office thought it would be an excellent opportunity to highlight travel and tourism’s impact on foreign direct investment into U.S. manufacturing. You may be asking yourself, are there connections between manufacturing, foreign direct investment, and travel and tourism? The answer is a resounding YES! Not only do international visitors spend money while they are here, but they get to know our people, our places, and discover that the United States is a great place to do business and invest.

There are hundreds of manufacturing sites and factories throughout the United States that you can tour to watch U.S.-manufactured goods taking shape right before your eyes. Click here to find one near you. What better way to encourage foreign direct investment than to allow potential investors to see the production of made-in-America products?

To encourage more business investment in the United States, the U.S. Department of Commerce will host the next SelectUSA Investment Summit on June 10-12 in Washington, DC. The SelectUSA Investment Summit promotes the United States as the world’s premier investment destination and connects qualified foreign firms with U.S. economic development organizations to facilitate business investment and job creation.

In conjunction with the Investment Summit, SelectUSA is partnering with economic development organizations across the U.S. to plan and promote spinoff events. These events provide potential investors the opportunity to see first-hand the American communities in which their businesses can grow and thrive. Check out the lineup of spinoff events to see how U.S. localities are attracting job-creating business investment.

A healthy travel and tourism industry can be one of the most significant contributors to economic development, attracting potential new businesses to destinations throughout the United States.

In support of travel and tourism and the benefits it brings to U.S. manufacturing, the U.S. Department of Commerce has teamed up with the state and territorial tourism offices across the United States to highlight manufacturing and factory tour opportunities. Visitors can witness the production of made-in-America agriculture products, baseball bats, honey, kazoos, tractors, cookies, automobiles, bourbon, goat cheese, golf clubs, furniture, and canoes.

Whether you are interested in expanding your business footprint in the United States, investing in U.S. goods or simply planning your family’s summer holiday, please visit us on the web to find a tour in your next travel destination!

Follow ITA on Twitter as we highlight the importance of travel and tourism to economic development in the United States.

National Travel and Tourism Week (NTTW), now in its 34th year, is the annual salute to travel and tourism in America. During the first full week in May, communities across our nation unite to showcase the impact of travel to policymakers, business leaders and local media with rallies, events and other activities.

While the industry is focused on celebrating this week, the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO), U.S. Foreign and Commercial Service offices around the globe, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), federal agencies responsible for the United States’ public and Native American lands (Interior, Agriculture, Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, etc.), and the Departments of State and Homeland Security are working together to put our best face forward when the world’s largest travel trade show, IPW, comes to Washington.

For the first time in its 49-year history, the U.S. Travel Association is bringing its premiere trade show, IPW, formerly known as the Discover America International Pow Wow, to the nation’s capital.

In just three days of intensive pre-scheduled business appointments, more than 1,000 U.S. travel organizations from every region of the USA (representing all industry category components), and nearly 1,200 international and domestic buyers from more than 70 countries, conduct business negotiations that will generate more than $4.7 billion in future travel to the United States.

Given that travel and tourism is the United States’ largest services export and represented a $246.2 billion dollar infusion into the nation’s economy in 2015, the federal partners are pleased to have IPW in our backyard. In addition to providing the world’s U.S. travel goods and services buyers and the international media with an “up close and personal” look at all there is to see and do here in the nation’s capital, having IPW in Washington will also give U.S. Travel the opportunity to showcase the importance of the travel and tourism industry to our national elected officials.

America’s travel and tourism industry is on the rise. Representing $1.6 trillion in economic activity annually, this sector of our economy supports more than 7.9 million U.S. jobs, 1.2 million of which are directly attributable to international inbound travel – read exports. More people are employed by travel and tourism-related industries than are employed collectively in the construction industry, finance and insurance industries, agriculture, and education.

The federal partners are building new itineraries that will feature our national marine sanctuaries, wildlife refuges, lesser-known national parks, scenic byways and other federal properties. In addition, Commercial Service officers will meet with U.S. sellers, offering export assistance, and with international buyers, offering connections between them and U.S. sellers. The Department of Homeland Security will be taking appointments for enrollment in its trusted traveler programs and Native American tribal representatives and the Bureau of Indian Affairs will meet with international buyers to educate them about the tremendous product available on our Native Lands.

International travelers visit the United States to see big cities like New York, where you can ride a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, take a walk through Central Park and enjoy a Broadway show, all in one day.

People come to America to hike the California Coast, where you can find bonsai trees living in the shadows of the giant redwoods, a phenomenon that does not exist anywhere else on the planet.

People come to America to see some of the best art and culture in the world, from the globally renowned art collection at the Chicago Institute of Art to the back lots of Hollywood to the Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Bentonville, Ark., one of the hottest new museums in the country.

Our country’s diverse array of uniquely American experiences can stand up to any destination anywhere in the world, but we cannot take either our experiences or our visitors for granted. We must stay focused on maintaining a welcoming presence to the international buyer community and we believe a strong presence at IPW is one great way to accomplish that.

You may not have thought about it, but your last road trip, night in a hotel, or weekend at the coast contributed to an industry that supports millions of jobs here in the United States. Travel and tourism generated $1.51 trillion for the U.S. economy in 2013.

This industry is also the country’s largest services export industry, contributing a record $180.7 billion to U.S. export totals in 2013. Those exports support 1.3 million U.S. jobs.

On top of the numbers is the contribution this industry makes to quality of life. Research shows that travel has a positive effect on relationships, education, and health!

So what’s not to celebrate?

We at the International Trade Administration’s National Travel and Tourism Office are proud to work with the U.S. Travel Association, numerous state agencies, and the private sector to support travel and tourism and highlight its beneficial effects on the economy.

How has travel affected your life? Be sure to join the conversation on Twitter and share your story using #NTTW14. Then pull out your calendar – it’s time to plan your next vacation!

Ken Hyatt is the Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.

2012 was a record year for travel and tourism in the United States. The industry generated $168.1 billion worth of U.S. exports, an impressive 10 percent increase over 2011, and supported 7.7 million jobs. Recognizing this sector’s potential to continue driving job growth, President Obama last year called for the creation of a National Travel and Tourism Strategy. Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the Strategy’s release.

The Strategy, co-led by the Departments of Commerce and Interior, is a comprehensive, government-wide approach to increase travel and tourism to and within the United States. Since its introduction, more than a dozen partner agencies have coordinated to enhance tourism promotion efforts, improve the visa application and entry experiences, and collaborate with the private sector – including BrandUSA – and state and local destinations in various ways. These and other activities are aimed at attracting 100 million annual visitors by the end of 2021, a 61 percent increase over 2011.

The Strategy is already bearing fruit. Two examples I would like to highlight are:

Our partners at the Department of State are expanding their consular facilities and streamlining their visa processes. As a result, nine out of ten visa applicants worldwide are now interviewed within three weeks of submitting applications. In some key markets, wait times have fallen to only a few days even as the number of applications increases.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have launched programs to reduce screening and entry processing times for domestic and international passengers alike. CBP’s Global Entry program is now available at 44 airports, while TSA’s Pre Check is present at 40.

Improvements like these have made the visitor experience better without compromising our security. While we take pride in successes like these, we recognize that more work remains to be done, especially given economic headwinds and fiscal challenges in some of the countries that send visitors to our shores.

Our nation offers domestic and international visitors a wealth of amazing tourism experiences. Those visitors, in turn, spend hundreds of billions of dollars right here in the United States and contribute to our national efforts to create jobs here at home. I invite you to review the Strategy as we celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week (May 4-12) and let us know how your community can play its part.

This week we’re celebrating National Travel and Tourism Week by highlighting the impact of international visitors on our economy as well as noting how we can attract more visitors to experience our wonderland of sights and attractions.

Last year, a record 62 million international tourists visited the United States and spent a record $153 billion that went to support the economies of local communities, helping to support 1.1 million jobs in our travel and tourism industry. The U.S. enjoys a $42.8 billion surplus in travel and tourism and has done so since 1989. While these numbers are all records for the industry, there is room to improve.

The U.S. ranks just behind France in attracting foreign visitors, hosting 6.4% of the global share of travelers. However, in terms of visitor spending, we dominate the world market with 11.2% of global traveler spending.

According to the most recently released travel forecast (2012-2016) international visitation to the United States is expected to grow between four to five percent in the forecast period. This growth would build on the past two years of record-setting numbers and continue this upward trend.
If the forecast holds true, visitor volume would grow from 62.3 million in 2011 to reach 65.4 million in 2012 and 76.6 million by 2016. This translates into total growth of 14.4 million additional visitors in 2016 compared to 2011, growth of 23% versus the 2011 level, and a compounded annual growth rate of 4.2 percent.

In January, President Obama signed an executive order to further support travel and tourism to the United States and ultimately create jobs. The order established, among other things, a Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness that developed and delivered a National Travel and Tourism Strategy to the White House that will encourage international visitors to come to the United States.

Improving staffing in overseas embassies to process visa applications and ensuring smooth arrival processes at major airports are important steps to attracting a larger volume of travelers to the United States. However, this task is a collaborative effort between the federal government and private industry.

During International Pow Wow, the largest U.S. travel and tourism industry event, held this year in Los Angeles, Brand USA, a public-private partnership whose mission is to promote increased international travel to the United States, unveiled their marketing campaign designed to draw more visitors to the United States. The campaign showcases the diversity of experiences available in the United States in a fresh and unexpected light, inviting visitors to “Discover this land, like never before.”

Through the public-private partnership launched by Brand USA and the increased attention on travel and tourism from the U.S. government the United States can regain its prominence as a world-class destination and in the process create and retain jobs across the country.

May is the harbinger of Spring (here in the Northern Hemisphere) but it’s also what I like to call the “month of weeks”. In addition to being Bike Month (as proclaimed by the League of American Bicyclists) it is also a celebration of many of the things we here at the International Trade Administration hold near and dear to our hearts.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the E-Awards, created to “afford suitable recognition to persons, firms, or organizations which contribute significantly in the effort to increase United States exports.”

The U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement enters into force on May 15 and we will have information about the economic impact of the agreement and opportunities for key industries as a result of the provisions of the agreement.

The annual TradeWinds Forum takes place May 14-22 and we will be highlighting stories from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam where hundreds of companies will be networking with government and industry leaders to find connections, partners, and ultimately sales in new markets.

Speaking of partners, the Market Development Cooperator Program (or MDCP) will highlight one of their many successes with a profile of the Independent Film and Television Alliance. IFTA became a partner in 2010 with the goal of “enhancing the global competitiveness of its industry and increase the exports of U.S. independent motion picture exports by an creating American Pavilion at the Hong Kong International Film and Television Market.” We will hear of their ultimate success and track their progress.

Keep an eye out for upcoming stories and follow us on Twitter @TradeGov.

Mike Masserman is the director of the Office of Advisory Committees and oversees the President’s Export Council, the Manufacturing Council and 18 other advisory committees.

Coming off the heels of National Travel & Tourism Week , key members of the Obama Administration, including President Obama’s Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, head to Las Vegas this week to underscore the importance of travel and tourism to the American economy at the Global Travel & Tourism Summit . From hotels, airlines and tour operators to restaurants, national parks and historic sites, this critical industry employs nearly 8 million people in our country and has played an essential role in our economic recovery.

The U.S. attracts 11.2% of world traveler spending, well ahead of destinations like Spain and France, and welcomed 60 million international visitors in 2010 alone – visitors who spent $134.4 billion dollars. A lot of people don’t know that international travel and tourism is considered an export – but it is, and with export numbers like that, the industry is a prime contributor to achieving the President’s goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next five years. So when folks talk about the National Export Initiative and World Trade Month , travel & tourism should be at the top of the agenda. That’s why we‘re holding our next Travel and Tourism Advisory Board meeting in San Francisco next week to coincide with the Discover America International Pow Wow .

At next week’s meeting, Under Secretary Sánchez will be releasing the upcoming travel forecast and will highlight the Administration’s work on the Board’s recommendations to facilitate international travel to the United States. The Board will also be presenting recommendations on a number of new policy issues including crisis management and coordination and airport security.

We look forward to meeting with travel & tourism CEOs from across the country and working with them to help create jobs for the American people.